The Election Commission (EC) is awaiting the full special audit report before deciding on its action concerning allegations made about the role played by EC officials in the transfer of military voters to specific camps prior to GE14 to shore up support for the previous government.

EC chairperson Azhar Azizan Harun said the commission needed to know exactly what was included in the report, which also allegedly concerned the collusion of EC officials with the Defence Ministry in this matter.

“I do not have a copy of the report, so I do not know what is exactly said.

“We are awaiting the full report, as and when it is made public, before we consider our next course of action.

“(Once we see the report) I will not yet say we will investigate, but we will definitely enquire into it,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted today.

According to The Malaysian Insight (TMI), the claims were part of a detailed report by a special investigation committee on procurement, governance and finance led by former auditor-general Ambrin Buang.

He was appointed by the new Pakatan Harapan government to look into such dubious deals, beginning with the Defence Ministry.

TMI, which claimed to have sighted the report, reported that EC officials were complicit in aiding the ministry in the transfer of military voters to camps built in Bera (Pahang), Segamat (Johor), Paloh (Johor) and Hutan Melintang (Perak) in time to be eligible to vote in the GE14. 

It was reported that some 1,563 voters from the Tambun and Kamunting military camps were transferred to the Hutan Melintang camp in the Bagan Datoh parliamentary constituency ahead of the polls.

On top of that, it was reported that the EC officials further advised the BN government on meeting requirements to ready the camps for the transfer, before the third quarter of 2017, the cut-off date for voters’ names to be registered with the EC to be able to vote in May 2018.

Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu is expected to table the report in the Dewan Negara tomorrow and the report will be released.

In February, it was revealed that land swap deals concerning the ministry had resulted in RM500 million in losses and leakages. 

This occurred through 16 projects dating as far back as 1997, involving 1,186ha of Defence Ministry land valued at RM4.75 billion, with project costs of RM4.88 billion.

Of these, four deals involved land being swapped to build army bases in Hutan Melintang, Segamat, Paloh and Bera, to “ensure a vote bank” for certain BN politicians. 

Mohamad had claimed that the four bases were set up despite protests from the armed forces which stated there was no need for army bases in those locations.

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